New Year, New Problems 7: Mom 15, Sora Love
by Jlgjt
Summary: Seventh in series, covers Sora. Rated K for Sora washing up a few ne'er do wells with her tennis arm. : Also look for a touching flashback involving Sora and Gatomon.


2004 – New Year, New Problems

Story #7: Mom 15, Sora Love

Author's Notes: This story covers Sora. Look for the reemergence of the tomboy (!) and also some heartwarming moments. Flashback/remembrance sequences are written in italics. Enjoy!

Date: Saturday Jan. 3rd, 2004 (1/3/2004)

Time: 5:30 pm

Place: An indoor tennis court somewhere in Odaiba...

Sora eyed her opponent across the net with intense concentration. It was her serve, and the score was deuce for the last game in the set. She threw the ball high in the air and sent it flying with a fronthand topspin serve, hoping that it would move fast enough in the wrong direction to score the set point.

The opponent swiftly returned the serve with a fronthand volley, to which Sora did the same in response. The opponent then tried a lob, but Sora had guessed the ball's direction correctly and returned it with another fronthand volley. The opponent now tried a one-handed backhand in order to cause Sora to miss the ball before it took the second bounce, which would score the point. Sora lunged for the ball and barely pushed it over the net, and when the opponent responded with a smash, Sora tried a desperate two-handed backhand, but whiffed her shot. The point went to the opponent.

"Game and set." the opponent said, smiling. "You still need to work on your backhand."

"I know." Sora replied.

"So, are you still up for dinner, or should we go home instead?"

"I'm ready to play another game! I want to win one for a change!"

"But you won two in the last set!"

"Oh, come on, Mom! You call that winning one?"

The opponents, really Sora and her mom, approached the net to talk things over without having to deal with the echo effect of the enclosed court. After spending most of the morning and much of the afternoon shopping, they had decided to play a set of tennis games together, mostly to celebrate the new year. But for Sora, it held additional meaning as well.

This was the first time she had been able to go out with her mom since the shock of the New Year's Eve battle. Just thinking about it made her blood boil in rage and indignation. She remembered from the first adventure with Digimon how he had DemiDevimon exploit her weakest point. The things DemiDevimon said to the others may have been lies, but Sora had thought what he had said to her had a kernel of truth due to an incident between her and her mom which had made it hard for Sora to believe she could love others. That is, until she tried to prevent Biyomon from entering battle against Myotismon and the crest glowed for the first time, resulting in Garudamon singlehandedly repulsing him. It was a turning point in Sora's life, as evidenced by what she was doing today, but it left her with a loathing hatred for Myotismon. And now, with him being behind everything that was going on, Sora felt that hatred bubbling up again...

"Myotismon has added to his list of victims: Ken, Oikawa, those kids with the spores implanted in them..." Sora thought in anger. "Myotismon only cared about himself and his goals, not caring about who he used or what the results would be, and look what a mess he made! I'm just glad he's gone for good now!"

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"So are you still going to do a game or two?" Sora's mom said, tossing the tennis ball up and down in her left hand.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Sora said, as she quickly got to her position, having been snapped out of her thoughts by Mom's question.

Mom prepared to serve and was about to toss the ball into the air when her cell phone, attached to her belt, started to ring. Startled, she set down the ball and racket and answered the phone.

Sora rushed up to the net, but didn't go further because she didn't know how long the call would last and didn't want to be caught out of place when Mom finished the call. Curious, she leaned part way over the net. From what she could hear, her Mom was talking about something important, and this made her even more curious, but as she knew she wasn't supposed to interrupt her mom on the phone, she just stood by the net and waited.

Sora's thoughts again turned to the first adventure with Digimon, but this time it was about Kari and Gatomon she thought about. She knew that they would have taken a pretty bad hit precisely because it was Myotismon. She remembered the disbelief when she first heard Gatomon was the eighth Digimon and Kari's partner, and then shortly after seeing Wizardmon fall to save them both... it had truly been a miracle that day, and afterward Sora developed a great pity for the feline Digimon: having already tasted what Myotismon could do just from one incident, it saddened her to imagine how much she had gone through on a daily basis. Additionally, she was proud that it hand been her Digimon that had suggested that they join their powers together, which seemingly proved to work beyond belief in destroying Myotismon.

Sora remembered in particular one conversation she had with the Gatomon. It happened after Kari fell sick after they had all returned to the Digiworld and Tai and Izzy had gone out into Machinedramon's city to get medicine for her. Sora, Biyomon, T.K. and Patamon were with Kari and Gatomon in a "safe" house, but nevertheless T.K. and Patamon were on guard duty to prevent them from being surprised by Machinedramon or his servants. This meant that Sora and Biyomon were generally alone with the often-sleeping Kari and Gatomon, who was holding vigil over her. The very fact that Gatomon was doing what she was doing had very much impressed Sora, as the incident in which Gatomon had been the reason the kids could not follow Myotismon directly into the real world was still reasonably "fresh" in her mind. This fact lead into the following:

_Sora stood by the doorway to the bedroom where Kari lay sleeping. Seeing Gatomon holding vigil over Kari still amazed her, and she smirked at the admittedly moving scene. She leaned against the door frame, folding her arms over her chest and simply taking the scene in._

_There was something she had been wanting to talk to her about, but things had been too busy lately and she missed the opportunity to talk right after the battle because she, like Tai, had been worrying too much about the fog to even consider talking to her. Now Sora figured this may be the only chance she had of ever having the conversation. Biyomon was now standing in the room beside Sora, but that wasn't a problem to Sora because she figured her partner may be able to contribute to the conversation once it started._

_Sora decided to start with a simple fact. She went into the room, staring grimly toward the bed-ridden Kari. She looked back and forth between the ill little girl and the worried face of Gatomon, and again smirked. "You know Gatomon," she started, somewhat hesitantly, "the fact that you have been staying by her side all this time has impressed me very much. I mean, last I heard cats usually don't show this kind of loyalty to anyone."_

_Gatomon did a small motion that looked like she was shrugging her shoulders and said, "She's Digidestined, and I'm her Digimon. It's what I'm supposed to be doing; you know that."_

_"Well of course I know." Sora said. "But I still get flashbacks to that battle at the gate and then, after seeing all that happened, it... it still blows my mind how completely you've changed since we first fought you."_

_Gatomon turned and flashed a confused look, as if wanting Sora to get to her point. Seeing this, Sora's face fell and she blushed a bit. "Of course, if you don't want to talk about it..." Sora said as an attempt to get out of what looked like a faux-pas on her part._

_"No, no, it's not that." Gatomon replied. "It's just that..."_

_"You're not proud of basically having whipped us?"_

_"Yeah. I mean, it was the complete opposite of what it should have been. Now thinking about it, I just get a bad taste in my mouth, like the taste gagging up a hairball leaves in my mouth, you know?"_

_Sora chuckled a bit at Gatomon's comparison, but nodded in agreement. "I can imagine so." she said. "But that doesn't mean you have to weaken yourself in front of us. You can do your bashing and those cool mental powers for our side."_

_"I wish I could, but most of the enemies are Ultimate or Mega-level. In the scheme of things now, I can't do much more that Agumon or the others. A little more, but not much. Only the Crest can make me strong enough to truly take on the foes we have to face now."_

_Sora nodded in response. "We're all worried about Kari." she said as a reassuring statement. "I hope Tai and Izzy get back here quickly; I don't think anyone, least of all you, wants her to become worse than she is. I mean, what if she doesn't make it? You were beaten and scarred on your journey, and now that you've finally won through it would be a great pity to watch her die."_

_Gatomon grimly nodded, and she began to tear up. "I don't want to lose her now that I've finally found her. I don't know what I'd do if she did die."_

_Sora smiled and stooped down so that she could look straight into Gatomon's eyes. "We're your family now. We wouldn't let you drown in your sorrows."_

_"Family?" Gatomon asked, looking confused._

_"Sure!" Biyomon suddenly stated, replacing a similar response Sora would have given. All along she had been listening by Sora's side and now she jumped in. Sora did not think of the interruption as a problem because she figured that Biyomon would be able to explain it better than she could, so she let her Digimon do the talking. "We are more than just your friends, we are your family. We are together, as it should have been."_

_Gatomon looked curiously at Biyomon. "You mean like, brothers and sisters?"_

_"Why not?" Biyomon replied, smiling. "After all, isn't Agumon Tai's partner?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"And isn't Kari Tai's sister?"_

_"Well, yeah, that's why he doing all this stuff."_

_"Then it's simple. Because you're partnered to Tai's sister, Agumon is your 'brother' and you are his 'sister'. Gabumon and Patamon are 'brothers' because Matt and T.K. are brothers, or at least are somewhat."_

_Gatomon looked up, thinking. Apparently she had never really though of it that way before, but now it was making sense, particularly after what they seen concerning how she and the others were supposed to be with the children eventually chosen to be Digidestined, and how a cruel twist of fate had set the stage for the bitter life she had experienced until recently. She smiled, apparently in realizing that Biyomon and Sora were right._

_Sora now jumped back in to the conversation."We're all together in this now." she said. "We won't let you go, not after what it took to bring you back from the fall."_

_Gatomon sobbed as the statement brought back up the painful memories of Wizardmon and the sacrifice. She sighed and said, "I wish he was here, now. I wish I could see him again, hold him, thank him for what he did for me. But he died in the real world; what are the odds he will come back?"_

_Sora grimly nodded. "In a way, we would all like to do that, but there's no Primary Village in the real world. It was essentially a one-way trip. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't really know how he could come back."_

_"I didn't even know I had any friends in the Digiworld, much less him. And when he finally did show his friendship, it was gone as soon as I came to embrace it."_

_"I know, and it saddens all of us that it came to that, but I think I have an idea why he took that blow, even though he knew it was probably would not be reborn."_

_Gatomon looked up at Sora."Really?"_

_Sora smiled again. "Yeah. Did you ever hear anything about the first battle we had with Myotismon, when Garudamon repulsed him and we got away?"_

_"Only something vaguely... I heard that the plan to prevent the Crests from glowing had failed and I was to quickly bring back the Digimon I had recruited for the army, but that was all I heard. I suppose now you want to tell me your side of the story?"_

_Sora grinned. It had been the question she had hoped would be asked._

Sora now remembered telling Gatomon the entire story about the fight between her and her mom, and then what DemiDevimon did to her, and then what happened around the battle. Finally, she told about what had happened that had lead to a reconciliation between them. Biyomon also spoke too, adding in comments where they were appropriate. She said that seeing what Wizardmon did reminded her of what had happened with her during the earlier battle, and this lead her to believe that they were driven by the same force: love. "But not the flowers-and-candy type of love." she had said. "This kind of love is a love in which a person, or Digimon, puts others above themselves. This is what it was with Wizardmon, and what it was with my mom and also with me to Biyomon at the battle. Those events aren't really all that different, as love drove them all."

That conversation had been so edifying for both Gatomon and Sora herself, and she was glad she had done it, because later it was seen that it really would've been the only opportunity. Sora also thought it interesting that she had this conversation at about the same time Tai was coming clean about why he was so concerned about his sister. Finally, it confirmed a thought Sora had had about the sacrifice: because she had possessed the Crest of Love, she had a unique perspective and understanding of why Wizardmon did what he did, not just at that moment but all the things leading up to that point, how that love had changed everything and then toppled Myotismon. And she was proud of not only having that perspective, but having shared it with Gatomon as well. Sora sighed contentedly at the good memories of that conversation...

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All the time, Sora was so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed her mom tapping on her shoulder with a finger, but when she felt Mom's tennis racket being tapped on her shoulder, she immediately snapped out of it and turned her attention back to the present.

"Sorry, Mom." she apologized, blushing slightly. "I got lost in thought."

Mom flashed a serious look. "I can see that."

"So... who called?" Sora asked.

"Your father. He said that after much consideration and dialouge between him and his student... what was the name again?"

"Jim. He's Joe's brother."

"Right. After much consideration and thinking between the two of them, they have decided to stay in Tokyo for the spring semester of the university to do a couple of lectures on Digimon. They have been spending last few days in a hotel room but from now until the semester starts they will be staying with us at the apartment."

Sora beamed. "That's great, Mom!"

However, she quickly noticed that Mom didn't share her enthusiasm, and the smile faded from her face. "Something wrong?" Sora asked.

"Well, this has been the first time in years that your father has stayed in Odiaba for more than a couple days. If it wasn't for the pictures, I swear I would forget what he looks like."

"I know. I wish he did more research here, in Odiaba."

"Well, it seems to him that Kyoto was more interesting than Tokyo, though he hasn't really said why it's like that."

Sora looked slightly surprised. "You mean he's never told you what he was researching?" she said, concern filling her voice.

"Only that they are not earth creatures, and that they could be considered supernatural. But during the call, he kept going on and on about that he was researching 'digital creatures' and how the world they lived in related to our own. He also said that what happened on New Year's Eve was the result of a powerful 'digital creature'."

Sora got nervous; she wondered if anything had been mentioned about her or Biyomon. "But isn't that what Dad told you when you met him at the summer camp?"

"Yes, and that's what you told me too. But with everything going crazy, I wasn't sure whether I could trust anything I saw or heard. Now, it's nagging at the back of my mind, particularly right now."

"Right now?"

"Like it's related to the reason why we're here, why we are playing tennis together." Mom stated.

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Sora thought long and hard. Had the long forgotten memories of four and a half years ago begun to resurface, but couldn't be recognized as related? Whatever the case was, Sora knew that Biyomon had talked with Mom back then, had in fact contributed to healing the breach between her and Mom, and she wondered if those old memories were being brought up again...

Sora turned to see her mom start to pack up the tennis gear. "But I thought we were playing another game." she complained.

"Sorry honey, but your father and Jim are going to be here tonight, and we need to get home before they show up." Mom replied.

Sighing, Sora went over to the wall of the enclosure, picked up a bottle of water standing by it and took a drink out of the bottle. She pulled the headband off her forehead and put it in her gym bag. She was also about to pack her racket in the bag when her mom called her over to where she was standing.

When Sora arrived at the spot, she was perplexed to find Mom staring up at something at the viewing window above the court. "What's going on?" she asked worriedly.

"Do you know what that is watching us from up there?" Mom replied, pointing up at where she was staring. Sora turned and looked up in the same direction... and was alarmed to find Biyomon standing there, waving a wing to Sora and her mom below.

Sora instantly became alarmed. "I thought I told her to stay put!" she thought to herself. "It was bad enough that she insisted on going with me, and then she wanted to come into the stores with me, and now she's not even staying in the car! Why won't she listen to me?!?" Sora then bolted for the door leading out of the enclosed room in which the playing court was located, determined to have a serious talk with her Digimon friend.

Meanwhile, Mom was pondering what she was seeing and had not noticed anything else until she tried to ask her daughter a question: "Hmmm... I swear that pink bird looks familiar for some reason, but what I can't figure out. Maybe you can help me Sora... Sora?" She looked around, and just in time noticed the door leading out close. She also noticed all of Sora's equipment, except the racket she was holding, was still laying on the floor. Wondering why Sora had run off all of a sudden without taking the equipment with her, Mom also went out the door...

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A crowd of curious onlookers was gathering around Biyomon, but at a respectful distance. There was a lot of whispering and pointing of fingers, but as they didn't know whether it would be alright to get close or not they stayed a safe distance away from the oversized pink bird Digimon. Amongst this crowd was a pair of two bit thieves dressed in a plain clothes disguise, looking for a quick way to get some easy cash. Drawn by the crowd, they were very much surprised when they saw Biyomon.

"Hey, look at what we have here!" said one of the pair, the leader.

"I must say I've never seen a bird that big before! What do you think it is?" said the other, the assistant.

"I don't know. It looks too big to even be an eagle..."

"Do you think it escaped from some secret genetic research laboratory?"

"Maybe... it looks like an oversized parrot if you ask me."

"Do you think it's worth something?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely! We could sell it to any lab in the world for a pretty big chunk of change." the leader said. By this point, they were speaking in whispers so as to not draw attention from the other crowd members.

"Or to the circus, or maybe to an exotic pet owner." the assistant added.

"Pipe down! We've got to capture the thing first. Let's just hope it doesn't peck through the gag." the leader replied. He took off and unrolled a large red bandanna, the "gag" that they would use.

The two thieves quietly pushed their way through the crowd, flashing back mean looks once through to prevent the crowd from raising an alarm that would alert the target. Meanwhile Biyomon herself was straining to see where Sora and her mom went to (she couldn't see the area around the door very well from where she was, so she didn't see that they had both left the room), and was not paying attention to either the crowd gathered behind her or the thieves approaching her. Therefore she was taken completely by surprise as the lead thief pulled the gag over her beak as the assistant grabbed on to a wing. She struggled but could not slip out of the grasp of the assistant before the leader finished tying off the gag and grabbed on too. She was now completely subdued and was about to be taken away by the overjoyed thieves when someone yelled "**LET HER GO**!!"

The thieves, the gagged Biyomon and the stunned crowd all turned in the direction of the yell. In that direction stood a furious Sora, tennis racket raised threateningly in her right hand. She had just turned the corner toward where Biyomon was watching and saw part of the capture attempt.

The thieves were surprised but not overly concerned by Sora's appearance. "Is there a problem miss?" the leader asked with a snide smile. Biyomon struggled again and tried to say something but the gag made it unable to tell what she was saying.

"**Yes!** That bird is my friend! She doesn't belong to you!" Sora said with as much menace as she could muster up. She moved closer to the thieves.

The thieves looked at each other. "So, you're saying that this oversized cockatoo is yours?" the leader asked in a somewhat sarcastic tone. Biyomon looked at him in indignation but didn't do anything else.

Sora moved closer. "**Let her go**!" she again warned. The worried crowd froze in place and the murmuring ceased.

"Or what?" the leader replied in a saucy tone. "You're just one of those perky, overconfident tennis girls! You're so busy playing that you aren't taking care of your pets."

"**I'm warning you**!..." Sora stated. She was now within a few steps of the thieves, and threatened a direct attack on them. She raised her racket as if to strike it at them...

The thieves laughed in bemusement, then taunted Sora: "Aww! Does the wittle girl want her wittle pet back?" Sora growled in anger as the thieves laughed it up at their own taunting. She decided if there was a time she could be tomboy, this was it.

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The crowd, growing due to the attention drawn by the yelling, gasped in shock as Sora lunged for the thieves and smashed her tennis racket in the leader's face, causing him to let go of Biyomon and sending him stumbling backwards. The alarmed assistant tried a lunge using his free hand, but Sora dodged it and connected a right hook, sending the assistant backwards as well and dropping Biyomon on the ground.

The enraged and bruised leader recovered and charged for Sora, but she dodged him, causing him to bounce off the Plexiglass window and then stumble over himself. Sora went for the recovering assistant, kicking him in the shin. As the hurt assistant started hopping on one foot, Sora turned just in time to see the leader getting up and head directly for Biyomon, who was confused by what was happening and was still in the place she had been dropped. Sora slipped between the irate thief leader and the Digimon.

The leader growled and tried to hit a right hook to her face, but she dodged it and countered it with a left hit on the thief's head, which disoriented him just enough that Sora was able to give him a knee to the stomach, which caused him to drop to the floor, doubled over in agony.

Sora turned again toward Biyomon, and saw the assistant try to lift her up and take her away. He only took a few steps before realizing that the crowd was now hostile toward him and would block his escape attempts. This thought distracted him enough to allow Sora to clonk him on the head, and disoriented he was spun around and sent flying into the Plexiglass window. He stumbled over his doubled over leader and fell on his face.

Sora now stood in front of Biyomon, fists ready to perform a one-two punch. The dizzy thieves rose to their feet, the leader still groaning in pain and the assistant feeling his nose to see if it had been broken. "Are you finished or do you want some more?" Sora confidently said, eyes gleaming and a smirk on her face.

The thieves shook off the dizziness and saw the untenable situation they were now in. Not only was Sora handily dodging their attacks, the crowd had been turned against them and some of the angry members were now slowly closing on them. "Oh, man!" the assistant groaned. "Is it worth all this trouble just for the bird?"

The leader responded breathlessly, "I...don't know... if it is... if we can't get away with it."

"Do you think we should just get out before the crowd can get us or call the police?"

The leader looked over at Sora, and then said, "I think that's a good idea. If we get out of this in one piece, remind me that tennis girls aren't to be messed with."

The thieves now tried to turn down the hallway toward the building exit, but found to their dismay that the crowd had already blocked that direction, and the other way was already blocked by Sora. The thieves looked at each other and figured the only way they would escape would be to charge through the crowd. Using what strength they had, they charged down the hallway towards the crowd. "Don't let them get away!" Sora warned the crowd. "Someone call the police!"

The thieves were alarmed when they heard "call the police" but nevertheless managed to bowl through the crowd. Stumbling, they were pursued by some crowd members while one person put some coins into a payphone and dialed the police number. Just out of sight, Sora heard the noise of something hitting the floor, and was overjoyed when seconds later several people came back down the hallway, with belts having been jury-rigged into handcuffs, the thieves now under citizen's arrest.

Satisfied, Sora turned and leaned down to untie the gag from Biyomon's face. She was left gasping for air and shaking a bit, but was alright otherwise. Sora hugged her Digimon partner, glad she hadn't been taken, but still had harsh words for her: "When I say 'you shouldn't come', I mean 'you shouldn't come'!" Biyomon looked at her with downcast eyes, only looking for sympathy. Sora sighed; she knew Biyomon just wanted to be with Sora, but because of mom being there...

"Sora? Sora!" she heard her mom call. She turned and saw her mom break through the crowd and come up beside her.

"What happened here?" Mom asked with much worry in her voice. "I was following you out of the room, and then I heard you yelling, and then a scuffle and then next thing I knew people are binding up two men and carrying them back down this way!"

"It's all right Mom." Sora said. "Some men tried to grab the bird you saw and I drove them off. The crowd tied them up and someone called the police. They'll be around to take them away."

"Oh... but did they hurt you. Are you scratched anywhere? Any bruises?"

"I'm fine, Mom."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"And the bird?"

"A little flustered but all right." Sora stated, picking up Biyomon and looking her over.

"Oh, all right honey. I'm just wondering why you ran off like that. Did you see it happening and rushed to save the day?"

"Ummm..." Sora was now put in an awkward situation. Her mom had assumed she had seen the thieves trying to make off with her and rushed immediately to save the Digimon, but that wasn't the case; she had just been there at the right time to stop it.

Thankfully, she didn't have to answer the question, because at that moment a crowd member came over and tapped Sora on the shoulder. "I believe this is yours." he said, holding up Sora's now damaged racket. Sora took it with a thank you and looked it over grimly.

"Did you hit one of the men with it?" Mom asked.

"Yeah, I smashed it in his face."

Mom looked over the racket and then took it from Sora, turning it over in her hands. "Well, it must have been a pretty hard hit. What would you make hit someone with such force?..."

Sora now realized that she had again been put in an awkward situation. She looked on as her mom put down the racket and looked over Biyomon again. "You know, I'm sure I've seen something like this before, and now suddenly being so protective of it..." her mom stated. "I wonder if this has something to do with what's been going on..."

Sora now knew she was now in an untenable situation, particularly because the crowd was watching them as well. She beckoned Mom closer using only a finger. When Mom leaned in, Sora cupped her hands over Mom's ear and whispered into it, "I'll tell you, but I can't do it with all these people watching. Let's go someplace where we won't be watched." Mom nodded in agreement and Sora waved a hand in the direction of the hallway out. The crowd obediently opened a passage out, and Sora walked out through it, carrying Biyomon and Mom following somewhat perplexed. With the show apparently over, the crowd began to thin, but most stayed in the immediate area in order to give their testimony about the incident to the police.

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Sora shooed away the curious crowd members who had followed them down to the court where she had been playing against her mom. Mom closed the door behind them and they all moved away from it so that they were less likely to be spied upon from it. She then turned and asked her daughter for the truth.

"Well, you know I told you I got a stuffed animal that looked like this bird for Christmas?" Sora started.

"Yes." Mom replied.

"Well, it... wasn't stuffed, and it is related to what's been going on."

"So is it one of those digital creatures your father was talking about?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Then why does it seem so familiar to me now?"

Sora sighed. "Because it's related to what happened four and a half years ago too. Don't you remember all the fog and the ghosts taking the population captive at the convention center?"

Mom pondered..."Fog? Ghosts?"she said to herself...

Then it hit her: disguising as ghosts, reuniting with Sora, the story told... by that bird!

Mom now chuckled and said "Well I'll be! I knew that bird looked familiar! Isn't it the same one that told me that you could love someone?"

Sora looked down at Biyomon, who nodded.

Mom chuckled in amazement and spoke directly to Biyomon. "Well, you didn't to go through the trouble of hiding from me! If you would've told me who you were, I wouldn't have been suspicious or hostile. Eh, what do you call yourself when you're cute and pink and not large and fiery?"

Sora chuckled at Mom's slight amount of naivete concerning Digivolutions, but let Biyomon answer with her name.

"Right. I'm just confused because you change your name as well as your shape sometimes." Mom stated.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it." Sora stated as reassurance.

"Is that so? Huh, well no matter. Biyomon is certainly welcome to stay as long as she likes; after all, she helped bring us back together. Now, let's get packed up and back home so that we can be ready for Dad and Jim, OK?"

Sora and Biyomon nodded, and Biyomon watched as Sora and Mom finished packing up the gear. Finally, they left the room and the three of them started back toward the car.

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Sora looked around as they emerged through a side exit to the complex (so that they would draw less attention to themselves). She saw Biyomon giggling as she flew beside her, and of course Sora knew Mom was right in saying that Biyomon had brought them together, enabled them to enjoy things like this, so why was she so worried about having to hide her?

They got in the car, Mom and Sora in the front and Biyomon in the back with the shopping bags. Sora smiled at mom as she started the car. Of course things could be that simple... and yet so amazing. Sora knew love could change many things, and as she looked back at smiling Biyomon and thought about what Gatomon became as well as what had happened in her life, knew that it's power was greater than anything she knew of, more powerful than Myotismon, who had tried to dodge love's judgment twice but in the end was destroyed, more powerful than perhaps anything else in both worlds. Even if she never saw Garudamon again, she was still proud to have represented this power within the Digidestined.

As Mom drove on, a police car passed by them on the opposite side. She was momentarily afraid of what she had started when she said to call the police, but that could be discussed later. Right now, though, nothing could be more right for Sora Takenouchi, once the bearer of the Crest of Love...

**The End**


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